Photographer · Creative Director · Writer · Based in London
People, culture & the worlds around them.
Photography, creative direction, moving image and editorial storytelling for brands, publications and independent projects.
Project
Archive
Commercial commissions, editorial stories, documentary projects, moving-image work and independent stories from across the archive.
London-based.
Story-led.
Working internationally.
I’m Yiğit Günel, a photographer, creative director and writer based in London.
My work moves between commercial commissions, editorial stories and independent projects, across photography, creative direction, moving image and writing.
I’m interested in people, culture, communities and the environments built around them. Whether the subject is a portrait, a motorcycle gathering, a campaign or a quiet moment on the road, I look for character, atmosphere and the details that make a story feel lived rather than manufactured.
I work independently and through Cult Studio, bringing together specialist collaborators when a project needs a wider creative or production team.
My work begins with observation.
I’m interested in the small gestures, routines and relationships that reveal how people belong to a place, a group or a moment.
Whether I’m photographing a portrait, a gathering, a road or a machine, I look for the point where the subject becomes part of a wider story.
Across commissioned and personal work, I move between constructed and documentary images. I’m less interested in simply recording what something looks like than in finding the atmosphere, tension or connection underneath it.
Photography remains at the centre of my practice, but the same way of thinking extends into writing, moving image and creative direction. Different forms, with the same intention: to make work that feels specific, human and observed.
- On The Road, Versus Arts, London, 2026
- Capital of Loneliness, Bursa International FotoFest, 2026
- Selfhood, Versus Arts, London, 2025
- New Photography, Alan Istanbul, 2015
- Cult Creative Meet-ups, ongoing monthly, 2024 - 2026
- The Photographic Approach, EOG University, 2026
- Where to Start?, Medipol University, 2022
- Storytelling Through Photography, Istanbul Bilgi University, 2017
- The Vintagent, editorial features, 2026
- Photographing a Rebellion, Ozcan Yurdalan
- Moscow Diary, self-publication
- Beyoglu Photographs, Photography Foundation
Cannes Lions Bronze (2011)
Crystal Apple, 1st Prize (2016)
Cult Studio
Creative production
& direction
Cult Studio is the production and creative arm of my practice. Built around photography, moving image and creative direction, it brings together specialist collaborators when a brief needs a wider team, from concept and production through to the final image or film.
Visit Cult Studio →